Newman Invitational Speech and Debate Tournament December 9-11, 2016 hosted by Isidore Newman School ,

You and your students are cordially invited to attend the 38th Newman Invitational. We provide a unique and diverse competitive experience. Last year, we attracted over 50 schools from 8 different states.

We are pleased to announce that we are a qualifying tournament for UK's TOC in ten events and the NIETOC in four events. In the appropriate events, students advancing to bid rounds of this tournament will earn one official bid for the 2017 National Tournament of Champions hosted by the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY, on April 29-May 1, 2017, and/or the 2017 NIETOC hosted by Liberty North HS in Kansas City, MO, on May 12-14, 2017. The specific qualifying events are listed below.

We offer 6 preliminary rounds of debate in Policy, LD, and PF, with novice and varsity divisions in Policy and LD. We also offer 2 three-hour preliminary sessions in Congress. Please be aware that elims in some of the debate events will carry over to Sunday except for Congress, which will have its final session on Saturday. Additionally, we offer 4 preliminary rounds in all speech events; however, we will not be able to allow cross- entry between debate and speech events. Speech competitors can enter up to 3 events within the speech category but no triple entry within a pattern.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT PF: As a continued experiment in Public Forum Debate, we are eliminating the "coin flip" in all preliminary rounds. The tabulation software determines sides, guaranteeing best possible balance between "pro" and "con" sides in the prelims. The pro side always speaks first. In the elims, the teams flip for sides (unless they met previously in the prelims), but the pro side still always speaks first.

We will tabulate all events on tabroom.com. All postings will be available online and texts will be blasted for those that sign up for that service. For Policy, LD, and PF, ballots will be completed online. All judges in those events need to have a linked tabroom.com account. Judges in congress and speech events will be completing paper ballots (both master and individual critiques).

Summary of events and TOC qualification status

Event Divisions UKTOC NIETOC

Policy Debate V/N Finals

Congressional Debate Open Top 6

Lincoln Douglas Debate V/N Semis

Public Forum Debate Open Semis*

Extemporaneous Speaking Open Yes

Original Oratory Open Yes Yes Impromptu Speaking Open

Declamation Speaking Grades 9-10

Informative Speaking Open Oral Interpretation of Literature Open Yes

Dramatic Interpretation Open Yes Yes Humorous Interpretation Open Yes Yes Duo Interpretation Open Yes Yes Program of Oral Interpretation Open

*semis bid for the Silver (international) division and finals bid for the Gold division

If you have any questions about the tournament, please do not hesitate to ask.

Thank you,

Greg Malis and Alma Nicholson Tournament Directors [email protected]

Tournament Schedule Debate Events

2:30-3:30 - Registration in Art Gallery (near auditorium foyer)

Friday, December 9 CX, LD, PF Congress 4:15 pm Round 1 5:30 pm Session 1 (3hrs) 6:00 pm Round 2 8:45 pm Round 3

Saturday, December 10 9:00 am Round 4 Session 2 (3hrs) 11:45 am Round 5 2:30 pm Round 6 Finals (3hrs) 5:15 pm 1st Elim 7:30 pm Awards

7:45 pm 2nd Elim

Sunday, December 11 9:00 am* 3rd Elim 11:00 am* 4th Elim 12:30 pm* 5th Elim

*We will single-flight LD and PF as soon as possible. Schedule is likely to be expedited for those events.

Tournament Schedule Speech Events

2:30-3:30 - Registration in Art Gallery (near auditorium foyer)

Friday, December 9 All Speech Events 4:15 pm Round 1 - Pattern A 5:45 pm - Prep at 5:15 Round 1 - Pattern B 7:15 pm Round 2 - Pattern A 8:45 pm - Prep at 8:15 Round 2 - Pattern B

Saturday, December 10

8:00 am Round 3 - Pattern A 9:30 am - Prep at 9:00 Round 3 - Pattern B 11:00 am Round 4 - Pattern A 12:30 pm - Prep at 12:00 Round 4 - Pattern B 2:00 pm Semis – Pattern A 3:30 pm - Prep at 3:00 Semis - Pattern B 6:00 pm - Prep at 5:30 Finals - All speech events 7:30 pm Awards

Pattern A*: OI, HI, Imp, POI, Info Pattern B*: Ext, Duo, DI, OO, Dec

*subject to change

Entry and Judge Fees

Congressional Debate Entry - $25.00 Lincoln Douglas Debate Entry - $25.00 Policy Debate Team - $35.00 Public Forum Debate Team - $35.00 Speech Entry (duo team counts as a single entry) - $25.00

Judge Fees and Quotas 1 debate judge covers 8 Congress debaters, 3 LD debaters, 3 PF teams, or 2 Policy teams 1 speech judge covers 5 Speech entries (duo team counts as a single entry) Hired Debate Judges - $175.00 Hired Speech Judges - $175.00

Each judge may fulfill a commitment in at most ONE category: Category 1: Policy, LD, PF, Congress Category 2: Speech

Every school must provide at least half of its judging in every category . Getting hired judges to come to New Orleans in December is difficult. As exciting as our city may be for the average college student, some still value studying for exams.

Please make checks payable to: Isidore Newman School c/o Greg Malis 1903 Jefferson Ave New Orleans LA 70115

Hotel Information

Hampton Inn Convention Center - a large block of rooms has been arranged at this hotel for a phenomenal rate of $109 per room. The regular rooms are king rooms or rooms with two double beds. They may have suites available that sleep up to 6 at a rate of $159. Parking may cost extra. The hotel is across the street from the Convention Center, just blocks from restaurants in the Warehouse District and a lengthy walk to the French Quarter. 15-20 minutes from Newman by car. Use the link: http://hamptoninn.hilton.com/en/hp/groups/personalized/M/MSYLAHX-NDT- 20161208/index.jhtml?WT.mc_id=POG

You may also call 866-311-1200 and request group code "NDT", especially if you are interested in the suites that sleep 6. Unused rooms under the block will be released on November 8.

Although every major hotel chain has a property near the airport (for those that plan to fly), we do not recommend staying near the airport. It is approximately 30-40 minutes from the airport to on a day with little to no traffic. If you wish to stay at another property besides the one listed above, we recommend hotels in Uptown, Garden District, Warehouse District, or French Quarter - all should be within 10-25 minutes of Newman.

We recommend that you book rooms early! In addition to other events and conventions, New Orleans will be hosting the State Football Championship Games on December 9-10.

Event and Entry Rules Event Rules

NSDA rules in LD, Policy, Extemp, HI, DI, OO, POI, Info, and Duo.

Special clarification about Duo: We offer Duo Interp, not Duo Reading. Thus, no binders permitted.

NSDA rules in PF with the noted modification on the Invitation page about the coin flip

NSDA and TOC guidelines in Congressional Debate

Evidence-related challenges in debate events will be handled by the judge(s). The tab room will not intervene.

CFL rules in OI and Dec

LHSSL rules in IMP: Speakers will prep in the speaking room. Each draws three topics and selects one (returning the other two to the topic envelope, if applicable). Each has a total of seven minutes to prepare and speak on the topic. The time used to select the topic will count towards the seven minutes allotted. 30 seconds grace period. One notecard may be used during the speech.

Please check the appropriate, official websites for additional clarifications or ask the tournament directors. The LD topic will be the November-December NSDA topic The PF topic will be the December NSDA topic The Policy topic will be the 2016-2017 National Federation of High Schools topic

Prep Times: LD - 5 minutes PF - 4 minutes Policy - 10 minutes

Extemp topic areas will be announced a few days before the tournament when we receive the topics written by Jason Warren of Parish Episcopal School (TX), who also writes topics for many tournaments around the country.

Newman's campus has wireless capability throughout, but NSDA rules restricting access to the internet during debate and extemp competition apply. CX, LD, and PF debaters may use the internet once the round begins for the sole purpose of exchanging evidence and speech documents with other debaters and judges in the room (e.g., email chains and Pocketbox). Do your research between rounds, not during. As per NSDA rules, extempers may NOT use our outlets in the prep room to keep their batteries charged.

Multiple Entry Rules May enter only one event among Policy, LD, PF, and Congress May enter up to three speech events, but a maximum of two in a pattern No cross-entries between debate and speech permitted

Entry Restrictions and Deadlines

We have no official limit on the number of students you may enter in any one event. However, our school is a small school, even though we will have access to Upper, Middle, and Lower School classrooms. We may cap some events. Fees and number of judges required will be assessed as of Friday, December 2 at 3:00 pm Central.*

Any drops between Dec. 2 at 3 pm and Dec. 8 at 3 pm will result in forfeiture of original entry fee plus a penalty of $10 per drop. You will be able to process these drops on tabroom.com. Drops after December 2 will NOT alter the number of judges required.*

Any drops after Thursday, December 8 at 3:00 pm will result in forfeiture of original entry fee plus a penalty of $25 per drop. Drops after December 8 at 3:00 pm will NOT alter the number of judges required. These drops must be sent to Greg Malis via email. Schools will not have access via tabroom.com to modify their entry on or after 3pm on Thurs., Dec. 8.*

*Please note that all times shown are for the Central Time Zone

Congress Procedures Congress Prelims

Please submit up to three pieces of legislation per school. Email them as Microsoft Word attachments in the proper format (NSDA criteria) to Greg Malis . Please submit by Friday, November 11. The packet of legislation will be available on or before November 18. The tournament directors reserve the right to supplement the packet to assure we have an appropriate number of items and an appropriate variety of topics.

Congress Finals

We will continue to use an open-ended approach to the Final Session of Congress. There will be no bills or resolutions. Debaters simply give speeches on what should be done, and/or they directly clash with previous speakers.

Past topic areas: 2011 - US debt 2012 - US policy in the Middle East 2013 - US immigration policy 2014 - Election reform in the US 2015 – US trade policy

The topic area for the 2016 Final Session will be announced on or before Friday, December 2.

If you have any questions about any of the rules, procedures, or expectations included or excluded in this document, please contact the tournament directors at the email at the bottom of the second page of this invitation.